


The End of a Long Year

by Bythia



Series: Just Write: Trope-Bingo 2020 [9]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, BAMF Ianto, Canonical Character Death, Discussion Of Murder, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, The Year That Never Was (Doctor Who)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:34:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26565922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bythia/pseuds/Bythia
Summary: Ianto didn't leave with the others when the Master sent them to the Himalayan, but he still misses Jack's call. After the end of the world, it takes him nearly a whole year to get onto the Valiant. But he is there as the terrible year under the reign of the Master ends and helps Jack not only to end the paradox but also to deal with all they have lived through.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Series: Just Write: Trope-Bingo 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1897216
Comments: 1
Kudos: 68
Collections: Just Write! Trope Bingo





	The End of a Long Year

**Author's Note:**

> I have a very dark headcanon about what the Master does during this year and I just can't let Jack deal alone with it. And anyway, why would the Torchwood team leave for the Himalayan only because the Prime Minister said so? They are not answering to him!
> 
>  **Disclaimer** : I don't own any of the characters or anything of this world. I just borrowed them to play a little bit, and I don't make money with the stories I borrowed them for. But the words are mine, so please don't copy them to use them as your own.
> 
> Have fun,  
> Bythia

At the moment the countdown reached its end, Ianto and the comrades he had gathered on the Valiant leapt into action. While in the control room the Doctor was regenerating his youth with the help of the faith in him that Martha Jones had sown all over the Earth in the last year, Ianto and those UNIT soldiers who had kept their head down to bid their time and wait for the right moment, used this distraction to overthrow those soldiers who had willingly followed the Master and betrayed Earth.

It was utter chaos and the only reason that they even had a chance of success was that the Master had kept only very few of the Toclafane on the Valiant. He may have most of the time acting like a benevolent Lord to them, but in the eight weeks since Ianto had finally been able to get on board of the Valiant he had seen more than once the disdain on the Master's face when he had turned his back on the Toclafane. Ianto had a pretty good idea since then, why the Master was keeping them away from his base of operation. He enjoyed seeing others suffer and the Toclafane were so cheerfully obedient to him that they did not know any suffering any more.

It had been a hell of a year in a very literal way and Ianto could not wait to see it end. He hoped that the Doctor actually knew how to stop the Master because he had no idea how to go against a Time Lord and the UNIT troops were barely organized at this point because there had been no way to communicate even while they served on the same ship. The only thing that Ianto did know was that they needed to get inside the TARDIS, and he only knew that because Jack had tried to get there every single time he had managed to free himself.

Therefore, Ianto had long given the command to the UNIT soldiers to clear the way to the TARDIS, when Jack came storming out of the control room with three other soldiers, who were following his lead without question. He came to an abrupt stop when he saw Ianto.

Jack stared at him. "How…"

"Long story, sir." Ianto grinned. "The shortest route to the TARDIS is cleared, but there will be three Toclafane waiting for us because the Master is viciously guarding it. I have no idea how we'll get through them."

"We need to find a way," Jack said roughly. But before Ianto could turn and lead the way, he found himself in a fierce embrace. "As good as it is to see you, I really wish you weren't here. Don't you dare die on me now that's nearly over, do you hear me?"

Ianto nodded, returning the hug for the short moment it lasted. "I don't plan to. Why do you need to get into the TARDIS?"

"The Toclafane were created out of the humans from very, very far in the future. The Master made a paradox machine out of the TARDIS to hold up the paradox he was creating a year ago. When we destroy it, it will reverse the paradox and the last twelve month won't have happened."

Ianto took a deep breath and led the way. "So, we have three basically undefeatable spheres between us and saving the world."

"I can distract them so that you can get into the TARDIS," Jack proposed.

"Jack…"

"What's one more death after this year?"

"I have no idea how to destroy this machine," Ianto objected and tried not to show how much he hated the dismissive tone in which Jack was talking about the torture he had endured for the last year. To stand by and let it happen in the last eight weeks had been one of the most difficult things Ianto had had to do in this year. And he had done a lot of unspeakable things to get where he was now.

Jack sighed. "Right. And I don't think we have the time for me to explain it."

"What's plan B?"

Jack snorted. "I didn't even have a plan A."

"Business as usual, then," Ianto muttered, as they reached the last door that was separating them from the TARDIS and her guards.

"That … was fast." Jack looked at him astonished.

Ianto shrugged. "I had eight weeks to get to know the lay of the land, so to speak. And before that ten months to study the plans of the Valiant. But it doesn't help against the Toclafane. I haven't seen anything that could help us against them."

One of the soldiers who had come with Jack looked at them calculating. "You need to get past them, so you can reverse this whole mess, right? Everything will go back to how it was twelve months ago?"

Jack nodded slowly. "But … if you die here and now, you will stay dead. Because the whole Valiant will be in the eye of the storm and for everyone on board nothing will change except that we are going back in time for twelve months."

"That's the hazard of the job, Sir," the soldier said grimly. "I have an idea to shield you long enough for you to get to the blue box. Do you know the layout of the room?"

Jack nodded. "I was in there shortly before all of this started."

"Wait here, we'll be back in a second." With those words, he commandeered the other two soldiers to follow him.

Jack turned to Ianto. "Will you stay here if I ask you to do so?"

Silently, Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, thought so." Jack sighed. "I want you to stay between those soldiers and me. I don't want … As I said, if you die here and now, you'll stay dead. And I can't … I just can't, Ianto!"

"I understand." Ianto nodded slowly. "Believe me, I don't want to die here. But I'm as ready as those soldiers are if it is required for you to reach the TARDIS. And you can't let it stop you if it happens. You have a responsibility to every single person out there." He took a deep breath. "Please tell me they will forget everything."

"They will," Jack replied.

Before he could say anything else the soldiers returned, with six of their comrades and four big metal plates which they had gotten from the panelling of the walls. It was clear what their plan was and Ianto thought it was a good one, but he was not sure if it would be enough because he had seen the knives of the Toclafane cut even through metal. They build a kind of fort, with three plates building the walls and the last one laying on the top. Jack and Ianto had been taken into the middle and the soldiers were carrying the plates.

They burst through the door and did not hesitate to move forward as fast as they could while the three Toclafane still demanded their identification. It was maybe fifteen feet to the TARDIS, and they had already crossed half of that when the Toclafane finally understood that there were invaders under the plates and started to attack them. The men inside their mobile fort were nearly blind because they had only left a small gap to the front, so they would be able to see the TARDIS.

They were safe as long the Toclafane only tried to shoot at them, but the spheres did need a lot less time to understand the futility of that than they had needed to identify them as attackers. And as Ianto had feared, their blades cut right through the steel and the second blade penetrating their barricade cut into the hand of one of the soldiers in the front. Before Ianto could react, Jack had replaced the man and kept on carrying the plate. Ianto grabbed for the wounded soldier and dragged him with them.

They had nearly reached the TARDIS when they lost the plate on top of them, and before Ianto could do anything they had lost two of their men. But then they were at the TARDIS and suddenly he found himself between Jack and the blue box and then he was dragging not only the wounded soldier into the TARDIS but Jack as well who had taken a serial of shots into the back. When the door closed, only five of the nine soldiers were still with them and three of them badly wounded, while Jack lay dead beside the door.

None of the soldiers even looked at Jack because they all knew he would come back, they had all seen it happen time and time again through the last year. The two uninjured soldiers started to patch up their comrades as good as they could, concentrating on stopping the bleeding. Ianto left them to their work, running up to the console in the middle of the room, which was clearly part of the paradox machine Jack had spoken about. But as Ianto had expected, he could not even start to guess how he could dismantle it. And with the risk of killing them all in an explosion while not changing anything, he was not inclined to experiment on it.

Ianto returned to Jack's side after he had made sure that the five men that had helped him reach their goal were not in need of any more help. It had been a very quick death for Jack and as experience had shown that should lead to him coming back fairly quick, too. Ianto sat down beside him and grabbed his shoulders in support as Jack came back gasping for air not two minutes after they had entered the TARDIS.

"Are you alright?"

Ianto nodded. "We have lost four of our men and three more are badly injured. You need to end this, Jack. How do we get this machine to stop?"

"Help me up," Jack demanded hoarsely.

Ianto pulled him to his feet and followed him to the machine that was holding up all the misery and chaos of Earth. Jack did not hesitate before he started to pull it apart and he barked out instructions that Ianto and one of the soldiers were following without asking any questions. It took only a couple of minutes before Jack told them to step back.

"Hold on tight, guys," Jack cried out. "This won't be an easy ride!"

It was the understatement of the year when Jack pulled out the last wire and for a few very long minutes everything seemed to be hurling around them. Jack, who had not been able to hold onto anything, was thrown through the room and Ianto winced when he could hear his bones break. He hated Jack dying with a passion, but he suspected that Jack had become somewhat jaded towards it and would need to learn to look out for his own life again after the year that was rapidity reverting. Ianto was determined to teach Jack that if he would not do it on his own.

Ianto felt dizzy and nauseous when it finally ended, and it did not help that he could hear one of the injured soldiers vomiting. He crawled to ht place where Jack had fallen down because he was not sure his legs would carry him.

As expected, Jack was dead again. Ianto turned him, so he was lying on his back and cradled Jack's head in his lap. At least Jack would not wake up alone and in chains like he had done so often in the last twelve months.

One of the soldiers sat down beside him. "Can we be sure that it's all gone back to normal out there?"

Ianto nodded. "Outside of the Valiant it will be like nothing has happened. That's what Jack has said and he knows what he is talking about. But everyone on the Valiant will remember. - Thank you for what you have done. I have no idea how we could have gotten in here without your people. Welcome to the club of those who saved the world and will never be known for it. What's your name?"

"Joe Turner. You haven't been here long."

"I work for Torchwood, as does Jack. I came here because I knew he was here. But … it was not easy to get on board."

"I have…"

Turner was interrupted when Jack came back to life. "Fuck! Should have listened to my own advise."

Ianto sighed. "Next time I'll remind you of that. I've had enough of seeing you die for a long time."

Jack barked out a humourless laugh. "I have had enough of dying, even before this hell started. - Let's see what we need to do. If everything went well, we should have returned to the moment after President Winters was assassinated live on TV. There will be an uproar in the rest of the world and they won't care that we could need a break."

"And there is still the Master to deal with," Ianto reminded.

Jack sighed. "Right. I don't think anyone of us will like the Doctor's plans for that part."

Ianto did not ask about Jack's comment while they left the TARDIS and ran back to the control room while their escort stayed behind to get medical help for the injured. They reached the door just at the moment as the Master tried to run and Jack pushed him back into the room roughly. It came at no surprise at all for Ianto, when first Tish and then Francine spoke up about killing the Master or when the Doctor tried to protest it. And while Francine was hesitating because as desperate as she was no killer, Ianto would have no such qualms.

"They are right, Doctor," he spoke up, pulling his own gun and pressing the barrel against the Master's head. "Just because most people aren't remembering, doesn't mean it didn't happen. He still killed millions of people, he still prepared to make war on the whole universe, he still killed Jack over and over again just because he could. He is a psychopath and those people won't stop. He is clever, he knows how to manipulate a TARDIS. How long do you think will it take him to break out of your little prison?"

"To kill him is not the solution!" the Doctor protested.

"It's the only solution. And you know it," Ianto replied.

His gaze met Jack's, who was looking grim but giving him a small nod.

"And who are you to decide that?" the Doctor demanded to know scathingly.

Ianto looked at him and met his eyes without flinching. "I'm with Torchwood. And I had to witness what the Master did down on the Earth. By the decree issued by Queen Victoria and ratified by Queen Elizabeth after she learned about the near catastrophe during her coronation, I deem this individual a threat not only to the British empire but to the whole planet. As such I enact my duty to eliminate this threat."

"NO!" The Doctor tried to charge at him, but Jack grabbed him and held him back.

"Any last words?" Ianto asked coldly.

The Master was laughing. "Do it!"

"And I won't regret it." Ianto pulled the trigger without hesitation.

  
  


  
  


It was pure madness that occurred once the reinforcement from UNIT reached the Valiant. At that time the Doctor had already left with the body of the Master, stating he would burn it and unwilling to take anyone with him for it, not even his companion Martha. But then, Martha was more interested in staying with her family anyway and Ianto could understand her. He had seen what the Joneses had gone through first hand and they would need time and to support each other to get back to a normal life.

Jack took over the command of those that had been on the Valiant, while UNIT sorted out the chaos that followed the death of two heads of state, and Ianto helped in the clean up wherever the need arose. When the Doctor came back a couple of hours later, the chaos was already subsiding and those that head actively helped the Master had been taken into custody and escorted from the Valiant. The Doctor did not hide his disdain for Ianto while he was talking with Jack, Martha and her family, but Ianto could not have cared less.

The Doctor offered the Joneses a ride home and asked Jack to come with them, very deliberately ignoring Ianto in the process. He actually expected Jack to go with the Doctor and was as surprised as the Time Lord when Jack shook his head and decided to stay on the Valiant to help with the cleaning up that still needed to be done.

It was nearly twenty-four hours after the Master’s execution that there was nothing else left to do except to write down their account of the Year that never was. Jack used his wrist strap to teleport them to London, and there he booked them a room in one of the more exclusive Hotels, so they could sleep and finally get something other to eat than the meagre rations they had had for the last few months. In the evening they wanted to take the Torchwood SUV in which Ianto had come to London back to Cardiff. They let an outrageous breakfast come to their room and spent a whole hour savouring the foot without speaking a word.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked when only tea was left of their breakfast. There was no coffee because they intended to sleep a couple of hours before driving back to Cardiff as that was the whole point for booking this room after they had already lost count of how long it was since either of them had slept.

"As I said, I don't regret what I did."

Jack frowned and shook his head. "I'm not talking about the Master. Someone in this room would have killed him, regardless of the Doctor's wishes. I would have loved to do it myself, but…"

"You would have never done it with the Doctor there," Ianto concluded after Jack had trailed off.

"No, I wouldn't. I'm just glad that none of Martha's family did it because I know they would have come to regret it in the long run. And I'm not sure if UNIT would not have tried to hold them accountable for it, while your actions were justified as a member of Torchwood. - But I was asking in general. How did you get on the Valiant? How did you even survive anything that's happened in the last year? How did you get from Asia back here?"

"I never went to Asia with the others. Someone had to stay and monitor the rift. It … was not easy after you left and at first I was really glad that I could stay behind. Especially as I already suspected that something was not adding up there." Ianto took a deep breath. "And then Saxon announced the Toclafane and you were suddenly a public enemy. I missed your call because I had been out to Flat Holm and when I came back I found not only the missed call but the video of Vivian Rook as well. It was obvious that something was going on, so I came to London, but it was nearly morning when I finally was here and there was no way for me to get onto the Valiant. And then the world ended."

Jack shuddered. "After the paradox started, I was so glad all of you were elsewhere and you hadn't gotten my call. It was one less thing he could use against me. He showed me a recording of the rift storm that took out Cardiff more than once because he knew how much it would hurt me. If he had gotten his hand on you or someone else from the team…" He shook his head.

"I know." Ianto stood up from the table and sat down on the bed, in the hope Jack would come and sit with him. He yearned for the feeling to have him close by, but he could guess that Jack would need time. He had already seen him shy away from being touched while they had helped to bring the injured to the infirmary or the medical transport if they could not be treated on the Valiant. A year of constant torture would not be brushed away easily and every single time Jack had been touched in the last twelve months it had been to torture or kill him.

Jack turned on his chair, but other ways stayed where he was. "How did you manage to get on the Valiant? And why?"

"To fight against the Toclafane or the humans who were working for the Master would have been useless. The only way to make all of this end would be to bring down the Master. I knew that even before we knew what he intended to do. I … pretended to support him. I kept in contact with a few people I knew from Torchwood or UNIT who were working for the Resistance. That's how I got my hands on plans for the Valiant. But I knew I wouldn't get to you or near the Master if I joined the Resistance. So I joined his forces and … ten months down the road I finally got shipped up there."

Jack frowned and bit on his lip. "And what was your plan after that?"

Ianto snorted. "I didn't have a plan. But it had become abundantly clear the Doctor and Martha had some kind of plan, so I just bid my time and made a mental list of the men on the Valiant who were doing the same. It was anything but easy to find opportunities to speak freely with them, and to be sure they were not the wrong kind of person to speak with. But we somehow managed to organize us enough. There were very few who were following the Master's command because they wanted to do it. The Master was broadcasting his conversation with Martha all over the ship and probably all over the world to show the downfall of the person so many people had put so much hope into, so we knew the end of his countdown was the moment we had waited for."

Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Did you never worry he would recognize you?"

"No." Ianto could not hold back a bark of laughter. "I fully meant it when I said he was a psychopath! When he called us to sent us on this fool's errand he didn't even know my name. He had no interest in any human other than Martha and you. The only reason he bothered to remember the names or faces of Martha's family was that he knew he could hurt all of you through them. I'm sure he dismissed any thought of me or the rest of the team the moment they had left Britain. There was no chance he would have recognized me." He averted his eyes. "But I averted you because I didn't want to risk that you gave me away. And I didn't want you worrying about me and there was nothing I could do to help you."

Jack scoffed. "It would have driven me crazy to know that you were on the Valiant. I … I really wish you wouldn't have to remember any of this."

"I'm very glad that I remember. That you are not alone with these memories. Because I know you wouldn't have talked about it otherwise. And I think you'll need to talk about it to get it out of your head." Ianto swallowed. "I'm not even sure if you wouldn't have just kept on travelling with the Doctor if I hadn't been there."

Jack shook his head vehemently. "I had made the decision to come back to you long before this whole mess started."

"Really?" Ianto did not even try to mask his surprise. "You have waited so long for him."

"To get a few answers from him and … yes, I thought I did want to travel with him again for a long time. But he is not the same man I remember, and I've probably changed a lot, too. A century is a very, very long time."

"And did you get your answers?"

"Yes and no." Jack shrugged uncomfortably. "I know what happened to me now, but he can't take it back. I'm stuck with this inability to die, a living, breathing, moving fixed point in time and space. And apparently, that makes me very uncomfortable to look at for a Time Lord and that's the reason why he left me behind in the first place."

"The more I learn about him, the more I dislike him," Ianto muttered.

"He is not a bad man," Jack protested weakly.

Ianto snorted. "That's debatable at best. I know he has done a lot to protect Earth in the past and probably in the future, but he doesn't care much beyond getting rid of the threat. He doesn't care for those left behind in the aftermath. I have lived through that experience myself! - But maybe it's not the right time for this kind of discussion. We are both exhausted and we did get this room to sleep in the first place."

Jack looked at the bed warily. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask if you were okay with sharing the bed. I just…"

"We have shared a bed before," Ianto reminded him softly. "And I'll appreciate it very much to know that you are here and that this not a dream while you are still chained up on the Valiant."

"I don't want to be alone," Jack confessed. "But I'm … pretty messed up at the moment."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "You are not the only one there. Everyone who was on the Valiant when the paradox was reversed is messed up. - And maybe we shouldn't start with sleep but with a shower."

Jack was still wearing the t-shirt and trousers he had worn for months now because the Master had only bothered to provide him with new clothes if the old ones had been completely in tatters. The Master had not bothered to give Jack an opportunity to clean himself and they had been so focused on their work after the paradox had been reversed that they had not even thought about a change of clothes or a shower.

For a Moment, Ianto wondered why the staff of the hotel had even let them book a room here with how both of them had to look and to stink. He should order new clothes for them, so they could get rid of the things they were wearing without having to wait until they were home.

Jack mustered up a grin. "You coming with me?"

"I would like that very much." Ianto stood up and held out a hand to him. "But I have seen you shy away from the touch of others. Are you sure you want the company?"

"That were strangers. You are…" Jack hesitated and then he took Ianto's hand, stood up and drew him into his arms. "I've missed you. And maybe I have … I needed something to keep me sane, to hold onto. And I'm not sure … how much of what I remember about us is part of the fantasy I build up to not lose my mind."

Ianto closed his arms tightly around Jack and fought hard against his tears. "We can just make your fantasies reality", he muttered quietly. 

He was completely overwhelmed by Jack's confession because he had not expected to be anything special for the other man. He had stupidly started to fall in love with Jack sometime around the whole debacle about Pilgrim and reviving Suzie, and it had not been helped that they had already very regularly had sex at that point. But he had never dared to hope that it could be reciprocated because Jack had a long track record of affairs and avoiding long term relationships.

"I can't remember when I last had a shower," Jack sighed.

"As outrageous large as this room is, I'm sure the shower will be big enough for us both. And before we go to bed I'll order new clothes, so we won't have to wear those ever again. I suggest burning them."

It was good to hear and feel Jack snicker against his cheek. "Deal. Although, I'm sure you would look gorgeous with a UNIT cap."

Ianto took half a step back and started to pull Jack's t-shirt up. "And would I only wear the cap or the rest of the uniform, too?"

Jack grinned, but it held only a shadow of the seduction in it that Ianto was used to. "That's negotiable and probably depending on the situation. Damn, I should have thought about that earlier, I'm sure we could have managed to take one with us!"

"I'm sure there will be other opportunities to get one." Smiling Ianto got rid of his own clothes, while Jack was discarding his trousers.

Jack's put on humour vanished as soon as he saw Ianto naked and noticed all the new scars as well as how gaunt he had become. Everyone had suffered in this year and while coming back to life had gotten rid of the traces for Jack every time, these traces were still very much visible on Ianto. Earlier, he had glossed over a lot when he had told Jack how he had gotten on board of the Valiant, and he was not looking forward to talking about all the things he had done and gone through to get there.

"I'm okay," Ianto assured softly.

"I'm so sorry," Jack muttered full of distress.

"Nothing of this is your fault." Ianto took his hand and dragged him carefully to the shower. "Let's talk about all of this at a later time. It's over and done. We've won, we have saved the world and survived."

Jack nodded silently, but he kept staring at Ianto forlornly, even after the warm water had started to run over his shoulders. Ianto gathered Jack in his arms again.

"I'm okay," he repeated in a whisper. "It will take no time to get back to my normal health. The worst I suffered was not getting enough to eat, but everyone was suffering under that condition."

In his bid to build his rockets as fast as possible, the Master had only bothered to hold up the most basic food production, but even those had not been delivered equally. In many places, people had had to live with the supplies available of various warehouses that had been there prior to the start of the end of the world. And while their numbers had been greatly reduced, food had to be rationed very soon and there had been essentials that had vanished out of stock very fast.

"All these scars tell another tale," Jack muttered against Ianto's shoulder.

Ianto sighed. "All of that was minor things, really. Most of these injuries only left scars because I couldn't get the medical supplies to treat my injuries. There were some people fanatically worshipping the Master and all of them wanted a place on the Valiant, even so, they all were aware that a free slot meant someone else had been killed by the Master and had to be replaced. I had to get past those fanatics and that … was sometimes very ugly. The Master isn't the only person I killed in the last twelve months."

It had become much to easy over time because Ianto had soon become jaded against those who were supporting the person responsible for all the anguish and pain and fear that had been everywhere. In the beginning, he had tried to remember their names and faces, but that had become unimportant much too soon. Ianto would not even be able to tell how many people he had killed in the end if asked, and now it did not matter anymore because all of them were back in their old lives, and none of them would ever remember what they had done.

"My only goal was to get on the Valiant to stop the Master and free you. Nothing else mattered," Ianto confessed. "There are only very few things I regret and nothing of what I have done will be responsible for the nightmares that will keep me awake in the next months. The only nightmares I'll have will be about what the Master did to you and everyone else on Earth."

Jack stayed silent and after a little while, Ianto took a step back and began to carefully wash the older man. It was an immense relief to see him not once shy away from his touch. Ianto took his time because Jack started to actually relax under his hands and it did not take long for him to grab the soap and start to return the favour. Ianto closed his eyes and just savoured the feeling for a moment because he hadn't been touched in any good way for the last twelve months as well.

When Jack started kissing him, Ianto pressed against him eagerly. Soon he found himself pressed with his back against the cool shower wall, sunken into deep desperate kisses and their cocks were rubbing against each other. He sneaked a hand between their bodies to wrap it around both of their cocks and rub them off. It did not take long for Jack to come while chanting his name against his lips and Ianto followed shortly, grabbing Jack's shoulder for support when his knees buckled.

They didn't let go of each other for a long time, even when they stepped out of the shower there was never a moment when they were not somehow touching each other. It took a long time for them to get dry and into the bed because they kept stopping for kisses, some soft and slow others as fierce and stormy as the first one in the shower, or to just hold onto each other. Very, very slowly Ianto began to understand that it was really over, although it had already been more than a day since they had destroyed the paradox.

When they finally were laying down in the bed, Ianto nearly forgot to call the room service to order them new clothes. Jack had already fallen asleep when Ianto put down the phone and Ianto lay beside him for a long time, just looking at him and savouring the sight of Jack being relaxed and somewhat content.

  
  


  
  


Ianto woke up with Jack pressed against his back and his arm wrapped around him tightly. For a moment he was too astonished about this new situation to do anything. There had been a few very rare occasions in the past when they had fallen asleep in the same bed, mostly in the bunker under Jack's office, but also two or three times in Ianto’s bed. Not once had Ianto woken up with Jack anywhere near him because even in his sleep Jack had held onto the distance he had clearly tried to establish despite the sex they shared.

Ianto took a look at the clock on the nightstand. They had not slept long, but then both of them were not used to it anymore to sleep more than a couple of hours. Ianto was not sure if Jack had ever had the chance for real sleep in the last year and he himself had never dared to sleep more than two or three hours at once.

"Let's just stay here until tomorrow and be lazy for a change," Jack muttered against his ear.

Ianto chuckled. "And the rift?"

He could feel Jack shrugging in his back. "Swanson knows enough of what is going on. We can call her and let her handle it."

"She is…" Ianto stopped because he remembered that what he had wanted to say was not true anymore. "She is still alive. Or, alive again. I … had forgotten for a moment."

It had been so hard to hear that Cardiff and a lot of the surrounding area had been taken out when the rift had broken open with the arrival of the Toclafane. He had mourned for his sister and her family, for all the friends he had had in Cardiff, and nothing of it had ever happened now.

Jack sighed. "They are all still alive. It will take a little while to remember that. The only death that happened outside of the paradox was Winters'."

Ianto took a deep breath. He could deal later with the still present grief over people that weren't dead anymore. "You never wanted to involve the police in our problems."

"I changed my mind. I … changed my mind about a couple of things." He pressed a kiss at the spot right under Ianto's ear. "I would like to … go on a date with you. A couple of dates, really. I…" Ianto could hear him swallow. "I tried to keep my distance because I try to tell me every time that it will hurt less in the end. And most of the time I regret it after … you know. I regretted a lot of things about the … restrictions I had put on our relationship. And now that we have a second chance … It's the first time in a very long time that I got a second chance at anything and I don't want to waste it. I want to savour my time with you and use it as well as we can. I want to have a lot of good memories when … in the end."

Ianto turned around until they lay face to face. "Yes. That does sound nice." He pressed a short, soft kiss against Jack's lips. "You weren't the only one holding back, you know? I was … mostly content with the relationship we had established because then I was sure I would never be able or willing for another long term commitment. I had a few epiphanies myself in the last months. There … were many days when I didn't care about stopping the Master anymore because it was all becoming too much and I was not able to speak with anyone about my thoughts. What kept me going on these days was the urge to get to you, to help you and free you."

"So, are we staying here for the night?"

Ianto nodded slowly. "I would love to just take a day to ourselves before we have to face all these people who don't remember what happened. Cardiff will hold out for another day."

"If you had gone with the others to Asia as the Master had planed there would have been no one there anyway."

Ianto huffed. "As if I would have let that happen. - But speaking of the team, we need to figure out what and how much we tell them."

Jack frowned. "I hadn't planned to tell them anything."

"And that would have maybe worked if it had been only you." Ianto rolled his eyes. "Even then we would have had questions because … it would have been clear that something happened to you. But with me in the picture, those questions won't just go away. Owen won't accept just no explanation for me looking as if I haven't had enough to eat for a whole year or the numerous new scars I have."

Jack's eyes dropped down to Ianto's chest and he instantly regretted that he had brought it up, but they needed to find a solution for this problem before the others came back. Still, they would have three or four days for it and it would not have needed to be discussed now.

Jack dragged his fingertips over the nastiest scar right under Ianto’s collarbone. "That's a problem, you are right. But…"

"We need to stop with having so many secrets on the team", Ianto said quietly. "Because we aren't trusting in each other and that only leads to problems. We need to grow together. Maybe … if things were different the whole thing with Abandon and Billis Manger would have gone different. And the time after you vanished on us would have been easier, too."

Jack frowned. "What happened after I left?"

"It was pure chaos and one fight after another. Mainly because we couldn't come to an agreement who would step up as our leader."

"I had left clear instructions on that for you to take over! It wasn't as if I hadn't known I would leave! I had taken great care in preparing for this eventuality and my instructions should have been clear!"

Ianto sighed. "They were clear. But … Neither Owen nor Gwen trust me, Jack. They have neither forgotten nor forgiven me for Lisa. I don't think either of them will ever fully trust me. And that meant they wouldn't take any directions from me. And it doesn't make it any better that I very recently shot Owen."

Jack closed his eyes. "I hadn't thought about … I wasn't even aware that there were still lingering problems."

"Had you ever planned to come back before you left with the Doctor?"

"I..." Jack swallowed. "No, I … had thought I would travel with him again because I was convinced him leaving me behind had been a mistake. I had been killed by the Daleks and I thought he hadn't known that I had come back to live."

"But it was no mistake."

Jack had said so earlier, that the Doctor had left him behind because of what he was, but Ianto had not concluded then that Jack had thought otherwise. It was astonishing that Jack still defended the actions of the Time Lord after he had been dealt such a blow by him and after the year they had just lived through. Ianto was not convinced at all that the Doctor would not have been able to stop the Master before the whole paradox had begun.

Jack shook his head. "He didn't even regret leaving me behind without any kind of explanation and I was suddenly very aware of how much I had really left behind just to follow him while he couldn't care less about me. Not anymore at least. It was … a very harsh awakening."

Ianto bit on his lip and let his eyes drop. "It was … clear from the instructions you had left that you hadn't planned to come back. At least for me. I hadn't expected to see you again any time soon if ever again. But the others, especially Gwen, were adamant you would come back, that you hadn't left for good."

"I'm sorry that I hurt you with how I left," Jack muttered.

Ianto scoffed. "I wasn't hurt. Not really, and not by you. I knew you were waiting for him before I even came back to Cardiff. - And it was not even really your fault that the team was not able to work together without you. From seniority alone, I should have taken over the lead, but it's my own fault Gwen and Owen don't trust me. In the end, it was mostly Gwen calling the shots and Tosh and me cleaning up behind her because she really has not enough experience for any of that. I had still hoped it would get better with a little bit of time when Saxon sent us away. I had a huge argument with Gwen because I insisted that someone had to stay behind to monitor the rift, regardless of what the newly elected Prime Minister was saying."

"He shouldn't have had any say about where you went."

"I know and that's what I told the others! But Gwen wasn't … listening. I'm pretty sure she is already thinking about some kind of reprimand because I ignored her and stayed."

Jack huffed. "Yeah, that's not happening."

"So, you see why we need to tell them at least part of what happened. And why we need to find something to change the team dynamic. Maybe we should even bring in more recruits. It's … there is too much happening for only the five of us. It would do every one of us a world of good if we had at least enough people to maintain two regular shifts outside of a crisis."

"That would at least double our numbers."

Ianto shrugged. "Who cares? We have the budget for it, we only need to find reliable people. And maybe I even have an idea or two for that, based on what I saw in these last months."

"Let's talk about all of this tomorrow. Didn't we just decide a couple of minutes ago to be lazy today?"

Ianto laughed. "Yeah, it will keep until tomorrow."

"Good." Jack rolled them over until he was lying with his whole body on Ianto. "I think we have earned ourselves a lot of life assuring we-saved-the-world-sex!"

Grinning Ianto wrapped his arms around Jack. "I'm fully on board with that plan."

Jack kissed him and it held desperation in it that Ianto could understand only too good. They were both still caught up in the mindset of seeing and living in the destruction and torture the Master had brought over the Earth and it would take time to overcome that. Maybe it was a good idea for more than one reason to take a couple of hours more to get their heads wrapped around their changed circumstances.

Ianto allowed himself to forget everything around them and just concentrate on Jack's lips kissing down his jaw and throat, and on the soft skin of Jack's back and chest under is own hands. He had spent the last months ignoring how much he missed Jack because it would have just made everything harder, but now it somehow felt like a completely new experience to feel Jack's body moving against his own nonetheless.

"I want to ride you," Jack muttered in between the kisses he was raining down on Ianto' throat. "I want to feel your cock stretching me open and filling me up!"

“Yeah.” Groaning Ianto pressed his hip against Jack’s and buried one of his hand in the other man’s hair. There were not a lot of things he would deny Jack at this moment. “We don’t have lube-”

“Don’t care,” Jack muttered.

Ianto snorted. “I’ll care for both of us then, yes? - I grabbed the lotion after our shower. It’s on the nightstand.”

Jack snickered while turning his head in search for it. “Ever prepared, Mr. Jones!”

Not deeming that question worth an answer, Ianto stretched his neck so he could press kisses on Jack’s chest until his lips reached one of his nipples. While Jack reached for lotion, Ianto licked around the nipple with the tip of his tongue before nipping it softly with his teeth.

“Fuck, Ianto!”

He grinned satisfied when Jack’s arm buckled and he nearly dropped down on him. He still knew exactly how to drive Jack crazy and he would use it. He would ensure that Jack could forget everything that had happened at least for a little while.

Ianto grabbed Jack’s ass with both hands and drew him up, while he slid up the bed a little bit himself, so he could lean his shoulders and head against the headboard. “Come up here!” he demanded.

Jack chuckled. “What are you planning?” But he was willingly following Ianto’s directions until he was kneeling with his groin right in front of Ianto’s head.

Ianto looked up at him and run his tongue over his lips. “I’ll blow your brain out while fingering your ass. And afterwards, you can ride me until you are hard again and come all over my chest.”

Jack let his forehead drop against the wall and let out a deep groan.

“No complains then?” Ianto laughed slightly while directing Jack’s groin so that his hard cock was directly in front of his mouth.

“None at all,” Jack replied breathlessly while gazing down at him.

Ianto kept the eye contact while circling his tongue around the tip of Jack’s cock and Jack braced his arms against the wall beside his head to steady himself. Ianto had his hands still on Jack’s ass and pushed him forward, as he wrapped his lips around the cock and started to slowly, teasingly move his mouth up and down the shaft.

It did not take long for Jack to get the idea to set his own pace, and Ianto caressed his thighs for a while, scratching his nails over those spots he knew would spur on Jack’s lust. He took his time before blindly grabbing for the lotion bottle Jack had dropped on the bed, and then he started slowly and carefully to insert one finger into Jack’s ass.

His hole was tight and it took an unusually long time for Jack to relax enough so that Ianto could add a second and later a third finger, although his face never showed an inclination of discomfort and he was steadily fucking Ianto’s mouth.

“Fuck, Ianto!”

Jack shuddered, while Ianto took his cock as deep into his mouth as he could and swallowed around it until Jack was coming down his throat. Ianto kept finger fucking Jack all through his orgasm until Jack drew back and sat down on Ianto’s thighs.

Jack kissed him hart. “I forgot how much I love your ideas in bed!”

Ianto grinned and palmed his own cock. “You promised me a ride. Still up for that?” He knew from experience how fast Jack could get hard again and how much he loved to get fucked after he had already come.

Jack laughed. “Always!”

The next thing Ianto knew, Jack was holding his cock and was slowly lowering himself on it. Ianto grabbed Jack’s thighs and dug his fingers into them to give himself something to hold onto and not thrust up. He was already so turned on from blowing Jack and preparing him that he was not sure he would hold out long enough.

Jack drew him in another kiss after he had settled down fully on Ianto’s cock, and he did not break that kiss when he started to oh so slowly fuck himself on it. Ianto grabbed his hips and tried to get him to move faster, but to no avail.

“Fuck, Jack!” he muttered into the kiss. “You’re killing me here!”

Jack chuckled. “No. I know you are craving every second of it!”

He kept his slow pace for a long time, ignoring every of Ianto’s demands and please, mostly swallowing them down in yet more kisses. It was much more intimate than anything they had ever done before and Ianto felt overwhelmed and yet happy about every second of it.

When Jack finally sat up and wrapped a hand around his own leaking cock while taking up the pace, Ianto was so lost in his lust and the moment that it took him a long time to be able to focus on Jack and even notice that Jack was talking to him.

“… feel you come in me, Ianto! I want you to fill me up with your cum!”

Ianto held onto Jack’s hips and met every move of him with a thrust of his own. “Jack!”

“Come for me!”

And Ianto did, shuddering and groaning and burying his cock as deep in Jack as he could. It took only a couple more seconds for Jack to come again too, shooting his cum all over Ianto’s belly and chest.

A little while later, they lay together on the bed, Jack on his back with one arm propped up under his head and the other hand resting on his belly, while Ianto rested his head on Jack's shoulder. Ianto stared thoughtfully at Jack’s wrist strap that he had not taken off since he had gotten it back on the Valiant, not even during their shower.

“You could not teleport with this before,” Ianto said quietly while trailing along Jack’s skin right beside the wrist strap with his fingertips.

Jack shrugged. “It had been burned out. The Doctor repaired it so Martha, he, and I could use it to come back here. I’m half convinced he would have disabled parts of it again if he had not been so distracted by his surprise about my decision to stay with you.”

Ianto frowned. “Why would he do that?”

"He told me I'm wrong. I can't imagine he would be happy with me travelling through space and time as I please."

Ianto huffed frustrated. He could not understand, how Jack could still look up to this man. "He better not get the idea to come and visit us any time soon!"

Jack laughed softly. "I don't think he has any urge to meet up with any part of Torchwood anytime soon, so we should be save for a little while."

"And are teleporting and travelling through time all that was fixed?" And wasn't that a curious thing, that a feat like travelling through time could be accomplished by something so small and simple looking like a leather wrist strap?

"Nope. And the other things will be much more useful for our line of work than a little bit of travelling." Jack made a long pause. "Expect, we could use it to take a little vacation without having to worry about the rift! And we could have any of our dates at any place and time you want to go!"

Ianto buried his face snickering in Jack's chest. "I can already imagine the most ridiculous plans in your head!"

"There is nothing ridiculous about showing you the future. Or the past. Whatever you prefer!"

Ianto sighed. "I'll keep it in mind. But first I think we should go back to Cardiff. I … I think I need to see it to really understand … that it's not fallen into the rift. I was there a couple of months back, I saw the destruction the rift storm had left behind. And somehow … To see London living again doesn't seem to be enough to get it into my head that Cardiff isn't gone any more. We can still take a little trip when the others are back."

"I'll hold you to it!" Jack promised happily.

Ianto prodded his chin upon Jack's shoulder. "Let's call room service and order lunch. Maybe they even have already my order from earlier ready." He grinned. "I did add lube to that order, aside from new clothes."

Jack laughed. "Let's see if they have got it already. Although we won't need those clothes until the morning, the lube will be useful!"

** The End **

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the "Competence" square of my Bingo Card.


End file.
